


A Femslash Writing Guide

by leftishark



Category: No Fandom
Genre: Advice, F/F, Femslash, Gender Related, Guides, Meta, Writing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-21
Updated: 2020-09-21
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:48:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26576293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leftishark/pseuds/leftishark
Summary: Points to consider when writing f/f fic, both SFW (Chapter 1) and NSFW (Chapter 2). The gist of it is that a lot of femslash emphasizes woman-ness or gender as a general concept, and it just… doesn’t have to.
Comments: 13
Kudos: 27





	1. SFW

**Author's Note:**

> a few months ago i was like hey i’m cohosting a femslash event and i’ve written well-received femslash—i should write a guide! and i wrote a lot of it, and then two months disappeared and i was like oh posting starts tomorrow D: 
> 
> so here it is. to anyone who was looking out for it, i’m so sorry it took me this long. i’m sure it’s incomplete, and i welcome additional input in the comments. i hope it’ll be useful for those who are still working on their event fics and anyone else writing femslash.
> 
> many thanks to the cc anon that inspired me to expand the scope of the guide and the friends i discussed this with <3

Here are some points to consider when writing f/f fic based on my observations reading and writing it. By f/f I mean ships involving canonically women characters and/or genderswapped male characters, and I include trans and cis women. A lot of this can also apply to women-aligned/adjacent nonbinary characters, and there are links to other guides about writing nonbinary characters just before the SFW examples toward the end of this chapter. Examples are made up or modified from my own fic (names changed so you don’t have to read the same two characters), with links to other people’s fic at the end. Discussion of NSFW material is in chapter 2.

The gist of it is that a lot of femslash tends to write women in a way that emphasizes their narrowly defined woman-ness or gender as a general concept, and it just… doesn’t have to. Some of these points may seem obvious to you, and if so, that's great! This guide is intended to be a starting point for those who have not thought much about femslash tropes they may have picked up unconsciously.

Note that this guide is focused on fic, not original or popular media, although some of the external resources are directed toward original or popular media since there are more guides for those than for fic. This guide is also not meant to be prescriptive or restrictive. Fanfiction is for fun, after all, and you can do what you want! My hope by pointing out common patterns is to encourage writers to expand their imagination, and ultimately to embrace the diversity of ways women are women and women love women.

**Physical/aesthetic traits**  


  * Women look all sorts of ways! They have short hair, long hair, buzz cuts, dyed hair, tattoos, piercings. They’re fat, gangly, muscular, tiny, tall, hairy. They wear sundresses, suits, hoodies, pumps, slides, printed button-downs, sweatpants, athletic wear. Some wear all of the above depending on the day and occasion; some wear a subset, such as primarily masculine clothing. A lot of genderswapped f/f content tends to make both of them femme; remember that women can also be butch or androgynous or present in other ways that aren’t feminine. 
    * This applies to any setting, genre, or AU, including ones like historical, fantasy, fashion, and cottagecore that have distinctive looks for women--you can mix it up! Put a woman in Regency waistcoat and I am slain.
  * Traits and features that wlw tend to be into include strength, physical skill/competence (sports, crafts/trade skills like carpentry), hands (large/strong/skillful), thighs, arms/shoulders/forearms, and voices.
  * "Pretty" and "beautiful" are commonly used as compliments and ideals for women, but some women (especially butch or androgynous women) prefer other, less feminine adjectives. Consider: stunning, handsome, sexy, hot, attractive, dapper, or sharp, or looks good/amazing. For more: 
    * [Beautiful Butches?](https://www.cardcarryinglesbian.com/beautiful-butches-2)
    * [Question: Genderqueer Compliments?](http://genderfork.com/2010/question-genderqueer-compliments/)
  * Try describing traits in ways that ignore whether or not they’re considered conventionally attractive. I do this by writing _and_ instead of _but_ when pairing traits that are not conventionally attractive with traits that are or with indications that the other character finds them attractive. 
    * Example: _She’s wide in the belly and hips, but she moves with agile power. → She’s wide in the belly and hips, and she moves with agile power._
    * Example: _She’s handsome, despite a scar across her face. → She’s handsome, with a scar across her face._
  * Women get sweaty! They get dirty doing physical stuff outside, like sports or sword fighting or gardening. More gross sweaty women, please!
  * Avoid describing traits via numbers and sizes (e.g. weight or dress/pant/bra size). Instead, describe traits qualitatively and consider whether you need to describe them at all.
  * You don’t have to describe every (gendered) trait of your character. Instead, point out one or two details that make your character stand out. 
    * Example of over-describing:  
_Mia had chosen a spaghetti strap pale silvery-blue knee-length dress with a cropped white short-sleeve shrug. She wore her blond hair in a sophisticated knot and had applied a very little bit of makeup._  
(I then go on to describe two other women following the same formula: clothing, hair, and makeup, even noting what specific makeup one _wasn’t_ wearing. I wrote this when I was 13 ok.)
    * A more lively example:  
_Lauren sees a girl with a mullet and roller blades and walks into the door of her own flower shop._  
  
_To be fair, Lauren has a bucket of foliage tucked under her arm and a rabbit carrier in her hand, and the girl is reaching up to put some sort of flyer on the wall. Lauren maybe has a thing for community engagement._



** Personality traits **

  * Embrace the character’s unique traits! Women can be competitive, awkward, jaded, reckless, ambitious, reserved, snarky, enthusiastic, etc, etc.
  * Traits that wlw tend to be into include competence, intelligence, authoritativeness, and dorkiness.
  * Fleshing out personalities especially important when writing about trans, nonbinary, non-white, and disabled characters and characters with other marginalized identities. Make sure that that identity is not their only trait!



** Relationships **  


  * Soft wlw relationships are wonderful to read and write—I tend to write soft dynamics in general—but it would be great to see more messy relationships or situations where it fits the characters’ dynamic.



** Genderbending **  


  * Genderbent characters are sometimes very feminized, like the author feels the need to distinguish them from the canon versions of the characters. This can end up losing sight of the characters and dynamics we know and love. Changing a character trait typically associated with men in order to write the character as a woman can be disorienting to read and even uncomfortable when it becomes a pattern. (E.g. a friend mentioned how Sherlock, an emotionally inept character, is often written warmer as a woman.)
  * Keep their core character traits! It can be helpful to list adjectives that you associate with the original characters (e.g. stubborn, bubbly, buff) and use those to guide your characterization.
  * You don’t have to change their names if you don’t want to! Even if they’re conventionally masculine names, the characters’ original names can work perfectly fine for women, too.



** General tropes to reconsider **

These aren’t inherently good or bad things to write about, and there are plenty of totally valid reasons to write them, including simply that you want to. But I think sometimes people include them accidentally—not because they want to, but because they’re so used to seeing them that it’s an unintentional default, or they think they have to write about them. You don’t! Consider: is this relevant to this character? This relationship? This scene? This fic?  


  * Emphasis on stereotypical gendered traits, such as softness, smallness, gracefulness
  * Doing hair/makeup, especially as a romantic activity
  * Period talk
  * Describing breasts using bra sizes
  * Body insecurity/comparison
  * Weight insecurity, specifically
  * Referring to a woman as a "female" 
    * Example: _The other female → The other woman_
    * As a general style note, I recommend just using the characters' names instead of phrases like "the taller woman" or "the raven-haired librarian."
  * Sexism/misogyny/gendered discomfort, including as jokes or as a setup for a woman to show she’s badass (women don’t need misogyny to be badass)
  * Homophobia, ranging from overt violence to microaggressions to bringing up the possibility of a stereotype only to dismiss it (you can just avoid it altogether) 
  * Discomfort/anxiety about desire
  * Men as past/potential romantic interests—again, totally fine to include, especially if sexuality exploration is a theme of the fic, but it doesn’t _need_ to be if it’s not relevant, and you don’t have to compare a woman love interest to a man to show that she’s (more) desirable. Tagging past/potential relationships is generally considerate and, in this case, will help readers who want to avoid m/f content altogether.



The following sections are not specific to f/f fic, but they do apply. These aren’t just tropes to reconsider; they should generally be avoided, especially if you do not share the identity and experiences you’re writing about. It’s always worth doing some basic research when writing characters who have marginalized identities that you don't have.

** Racist tropes to avoid **  


  * Exoticizing women of color, including describing their skin/physical features with food metaphors (e.g. coffee, chocolate)
  * White savior narratives where a white character rescues a character of color from conditions that are related to their race (think blue people Avatar movie)
  * Whiteness as desirable. One way this can manifest is emphasis on milky/pale/white/fair skin.
  * Using real locations or tragedies as backdrops for characters who aren’t from there, especially white characters (see: [J2 Haiti fic](https://fanlore.org/wiki/The_J2_Haiti_Fic))
  * DO look up stereotypes of and racism against the specific race of the character you’re writing, especially if you are not that race yourself, so you can avoid unintentionally writing them (e.g. [Native American princess or squaw](https://www.bitchmedia.org/article/whats-problem-thinking-indian-women-princesses-or-squaws), [hypersexual, submissive Asian woman](https://thebodyisnotanapology.com/magazine/5-ways-asian-woman-fetishes-put-asian-women-in-serious-danger/), or [Black women Jezebel](https://psmag.com/ideas/why-cant-reality-tv-stop-stereotyping-black-women))
  * More resources: 
    * [7 casually racist things that white authors do](https://bookriot.com/casually-racist-things-that-white-authors-do/)
    * [6 racist TV stereotypes that white people still don’t notice](https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/a863844/racism-movie-tv-stereotypes/)
    * [Butch and femme through a white lens](https://www.bgdblog.org/2014/03/butch-femme-white-lens/)
    * [Writing a Muslim character 101 for non-Muslims](https://twitter.com/thelemonwitch_/status/1293576150950842369?s=21)



** Ableist tropes to avoid **

  * Forgetting about a character’s canonical disability. (This seems more common in art than fic, at least in the fandom I’m active in.)
  * Making a canonically disabled character be non-disabled for a “happy au.” Disabled people can and do live full, happy lives.
  * DO consider non-tragic ways to include the disability. This isn’t to say that disabilities can’t come from traumatic events or make some things more difficult, but they don’t always have to be portrayed that way, especially in lighthearted fics. 
    * Example: _Olivia is efficient selecting a bunch of flowers, trimming it, and wrapping it one-handed once Melody assures her she really does want them._
  * More resources: 
    * [9 tips for writing about characters with disabilities ](https://themighty.com/2018/11/writing-characters-disabilities/)
    * [ Tips for writing physically disabled fantasy characters ](http://hannahheath-writer.blogspot.com/2018/03/tips-for-writing-physically-disabled-fantasy-characters.html)
    * [Are your characters tragically disabled or magically disabled?](https://medium.com/disability-acts/are-your-characters-tragically-disabled-or-magically-disabled-6b3893de33be)



** Fatphobic tropes to avoid **

  * Fat characters whose primary trait and narrative arc is about being fat.
  * Weight loss stories for fat characters.
  * DO write explore a wide range of roles and stories outside stereotypes for fat characters.
  * More resources: 
    * [A guide for skinny writers who want to write fat characters](https://sarahhollowell.com/2015/09/18/a-guide-for-skinny-writers-who-want-to-write-fat-characters/)
    * [Q&A: How do I describe fat characters respectfully?](https://mythcreants.com/blog/how-do-i-describe-fat-characters-respectfully/#:~:text=An%20important%20part%20of%20respectfully,thin%2C%20describe%20them%20as%20thin.)



** Transphobic tropes to avoid **

  * Forced coming out, including surprise nudity reveals. This came up in several of the guides linked below. 
  * DO write trans women as complex characters who have traits and narratives beyond being trans.
  * I’ll leave the rest to these guides and resources: 
    * [These Joyful Photos Celebrate The Beauty Of Trans Women](https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/transgender-women-pictures)
    * [To Survive on this Shore Photographs and Interviews with Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Older Adults](https://www.tosurviveonthisshore.com/interviews)
    * [Queering the Narrative: Introducing Trans Characters](https://www.josiewrites.com/2020/02/07/queering-the-narrative-introducing-trans-characters/)
    * [Before you write a transgender character, read this](https://www.cbc.ca/arts/before-you-write-about-a-transgender-character-read-this-1.3919848)
    * [7 Trans Media Tropes That Need to Stop](https://everydayfeminism.com/2015/02/trans-media-tropes/)
    * [Trans Tropes That Have Got to Go (as Told by Trans Readers)](https://bookdeviant.wordpress.com/2018/01/09/trans-tropes-that-have-got-to-go-as-told-by-trans-readers/)
    * [What should a cisgender author remember to take into account when writing transgender characters? (Quora post)](https://www.quora.com/What-should-a-cisgender-author-remember-to-take-into-account-when-writing-transgender-characters)
    * [Is This Trans Character I’m Writing Okay? A Case Of Cis Curiosity №2 (answered by a nonbinary person, not a trans woman)](https://medium.com/@transstyleguide/is-this-trans-character-im-writing-okay-a-case-of-cis-curiosity-2-f3a113d10c2b)
    * [Reddit: Cisperson writing transgender characters](https://www.reddit.com/r/ask_transgender/comments/5s0xrq/cisperson_writing_transgender_characters/)



** Resources for writing nonbinary characters **

  * [ Queering the Narrative: 5 tropes to avoid when writing characters outside the gender binary](https://www.josiewrites.com/2020/07/10/queering-the-narrative-5-tropes-to-avoid-when-writing-characters-outside-the-gender-binary/)
  * [twitter thread calling for human nonbinary characters](https://twitter.com/bitterbleue/status/1271215772598231041?s=21)



** Fic tropes to have fun with! **

  * AUs: coffee shop, tattoo artist/flower shop, pirates, office, sports, vampire/werewolf, age swap, artists, royalty, historical, mechanic, cryptids
  * elements: bed sharing, roommates, fake dating, time travel, age swap



**Examples of good SFW femslash**  
other ships welcome in the comments to diversify this list!

[defenders of the field](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25532596) (Voltron Legendary Defender, Keith/Shiro, 5k, rated T, soccer AU with outsider POV)  
Note: athletic aggression, disabled character  


> _Impressively-muscled and standing tall at a little over six feet, Shirogane is by no means a small woman, and the hot tub is not very large. It’s probably not meant for more than five or so players at a time at most—less, if Shirogane’s one of them._

[girl flex](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17444699) (VLD, Keith/Shiro, rated T, 3k)  
Note: thirst over buff women, conflict with men but dialogue is not really sexist  


> _Shiro has a vision of herself watching Keith’s muscles work as she stands behind her for safety. It’s a brilliant solution, speaking to Shiro’s core values of teamwork and lesbianism._

[Three is a crowd](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23807299) (VLD, Acxa/Veronica & Romelle friendship, rated T, 10k)  
Note: nonbinary character, physical grossness (refreshing to see!), awkwardness in friendship  


> _One day, Veronica comes home to Acxa’s flat and sees proof of it right in front of their eyes: On the couch with the nifty flower design, they spot another alien than the one they expected to see, legs sprawled in opposite directions and mouth gaping wide. Veronica watches for a few minutes how that person drools while sleeping soundly, and a few potato chips start falling from their mouth._


	2. NSFW

** NSFW tropes to reconsider **

  * Boob insecurity/comparison. This comes up frequently in sex scenes and can be a bit of a mood dampener. One can appreciate another’s boobs without comparing them to or feeling bad about one’s own! 
    * Example (comparison): _Sophie grabs her breasts, so much smaller than Cleo’s which she can’t help but envy._
    * Example (non-comparison) _Sophie grabs her breasts, the slight curve and cushion of them satisfying in her hands._
  * Weight insecurity gets another mention here; it doesn't have to come up in a sex scene, regardless of the characters' body shape/size/weight. Weight descriptions can add physicality in a value-neutral or even sensual way. 
    * Example: _Abby’s solid bulk feels incredible under Devon and on her and wrapped around her when they playfully tussle._
  * Euphemisms for genitalia. It can feel awkward to write explicit words for genitals, but in my opinion they’re way less awkward or distracting (and way hotter) to read than, say, “her flower” over and over in a sex scene. Cunt, pussy, hole, and folds are all good, along with clit. If it helps, you can censor them while you write (e.g. “c*nt”) and go back with ctrl+f to replace them later.
  * Past experiences with men. Can be done well, but can also be jarring to suddenly or casually introduce them in an intimate moment.
  * Smoothness/softness exclusively. These are real and lovely—but mix it up! Bodies have a variety of textures.
  * DO consider erotic zones besides breasts and genitalia. Attention to other parts of the body can add a lot of sensuality and avoid a male gaze-y feel. Appreciate the thighs, ass, shoulders, arms, bellies, necks, and hands.
  * DO consider sex acts beyond fingering and oral. Those are great but it would be great to have more horny variety too—toys, kinks, dynamics, etc. ;)
  * More resources (trans women guides focus on rl sex but may be informative for fiction, too): 
    * [Writing Lesbian Sex in Fanfic](https://springofviolets.tumblr.com/lesbiansmutguide)
    * [Fucking Trans Women](https://transreads.org/fucking-trans-women/)
    * [ Sex With Trans Women 101: A Guide for Queer Cis Women](https://www.allure.com/story/guide-to-sex-with-trans-women-for-cis-women)
    * [Trans/Sex: Here’s what you need to know before having sex with a trans woman](https://www.dailydot.com/irl/trans-sex-myths-sex/)
    * [Writing fat characters in erotica: why it matters to me](https://xanwest.wordpress.com/2016/01/27/why-i-care-about-writing-fat-characters-in-erotica/)
    * [Fat characters in romance and erotica](https://xanwest.wordpress.com/2015/03/05/fat-characters-in-romance-and-erotica/)



**  
NSFW tropes to have fun with!  
**

  * drinking games, sex pollen/other aphrodisiacs, only one bed, body swap, age gap, friends with benefits
  * kink, D/S, bondage, free use, vibrators, other toys, roleplay



**NSFW Examples**  
Examples from other ships welcome in the comments to diversify this list!

[Can’t Wait to Get Hurt](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20505167/chapters/48662135) (VLD, Keith/Shiro, 15k, rated E)  
Note: size difference, butch character, complicated feelings, sexuality exploration, past relationships with men are important to the narrative 

[All Spread Out](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13977465) (VLD, Allura/Zethrid, 800, rated E)  
Note: kinky sex, consent play, butch character, butch/femme

[like sunday morning](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15546873) (VLD, Keith/Shiro, 4k, rated E)  
Note: lingerie smut done in a way that's sexy without being like... flowery. 

[Overwhelm Me](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26649169) (VLD, Keith/Shiro, 12k, rated E)  
Note: sex pollen with strong emotional drive

[meltwater](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24185455) (VLD, Keith/Shiro, 4k, rated E)  
Note: temperature/ice play, kink discovery


End file.
